SouthernGuy's Debt Free Journey

SouthernGuy

Afternoon all,

Well I've just made my first additional payment to the CC for a while. I've just sent a payment of £40.00 to it and then the £60 DD should also go out to it on Friday (I'll check and update figures).

The reason I only did £40.00 at this stage is it's the first payment that I've made to that CC via bank transfer so I just want to make sure I had correct details etc before paying more off.

I had a really tight month this month with the car purchase so I need to be a bit more careful this next month (I got paid today). I like to have a buffer in my account until pay day of about £80 but this month it got down to £30 for the last little while which left me feeling uneasy.

I have got to get my new car serviced this month at the main dealer to comply with warranty requirements (I didn't buy it from a main dealer although the place I got it from did service it.) so that will cost a bit. I'm then signing up to a monthly service plan at the main dealer which will cover the service cost for the next 3 years.

My wish to clear the CC has been reinforced recently by changes at my employer meaning the long term future of my job could be at risk. I will hopefully be ok for 2 years so plan to pay off as much debt sooner rather than later.

Right, time for some food.

TTFN

SouthernGuy

Quick update. £60 DD gone to CC bringing balance to £4863

SouthernGuy

Afternoon all, it's a tad windy outside.

I'm not having a great month regards clearing the debt I'm afraid. Car service is booked in for next Tuesday at £270. Other than that my wife and I have had an expensive month with various payments due this month from the joint account (pet insurance, Water bill, etc) and due to a bit of overspending and mis-managing the budget we've both had to top it up to stop it going overdrawn (lesson learnt).

Hopefully next month will be better, We'll have to remember that a lot of bills fall in October for next year and actually put the money aside... In the past I would have used the CC but no more as that's how I got into this mess!

The £60 DD will be paid to CC but until pay day at the end of the month I doubt I will be able to make an extra payment.

On another note I've changed my bank. It was a choice between first direct for the £100 switch bonus and 6% saving account or Halifax for the £100 switch bonus and £5.00 per month.

I went for the Halifax account as at the moment I'm not able to save much so wouldn't make the most out of the 6% savings account whereas £5.00 extra per month will be a nice little bonus.

Switch takes place tomorrow so hopefully it will go smoothly

I hope everyone is well.

Calling14

I did the Halifax one, had cash straight away and fiver a month is great. Play switching cash between 2 accts as have Santander 123 acct which pays on your bills cashback.

SouthernGuy

Hey everyone.

A lot has happened since my last post.
Unfortunately I received the news last Sunday that my Grandad had passed away. He lived in France so I have therefore been over there for the last few days for his funeral (the french do things so quickly). I wouldn't have missed the funeral for the world but needless to say it has obviously dented the bank account.
I got paid on Friday but I have already spent a lot on travel etc so this might also be a difficult month.

Regarding MSE things, The bank account switch seemed to go without a glitch and all standing orders etc were transferred. I was so impressed that I applied to switch another (little used) current account from Santander to M&S for the £125 gift card. Fingers crossed that all goes ok.

Hopefully things will now begin to settle down so that I can get back on track.

TTFN

SouthernGuy

Quick update: £60 DD has gone to CC so balance now stands at £4803

Calling14

Sorry to hear about your Grandad, at least you got to the funeral some sense of closure then. Play catch up in the new year.

Still doing really well.

Halifax Bank account was the easiest one to transfer to. Love the extra fiver each month, worth juggling money in and out for. May try M & S one, vouchers could come in handy need to get my skates on as it is by 31.10.14

Have a great week

Calling14

Just a quick thank you for putting idea into my head. Been accepted for M & S bank looking forward to getting my vouchers.

SouthernGuy

Morning all,

Just dropping in for a quick update.

Well after having my Halifax account running for a short time I can say I am impressed so far. All DD's etc that transferred have gone out as they should and my wages did appear in my new account I have also received my first £5.00 reward :j

The M&S account has been accepted and I'm in the midst of getting that account all up and running. I'm not as impressed with the application process as I was with Halifax. With Halifax you put all your switching details in the application form when applying and it was all dealt with automatically. With M&S you have to phone the switching team after opening account and request to switch. I haven't been able to get through to the switching team yet so they are now going to phone me at the end of this week to get the switch started. I doubt I'll have the gift card by xmas but here's hoping.

Regarding general finances, this month has been very tight again. It seems that since I made the purchase of my new car I've had a lot of unexpected expenses (ie attending funeral in France) which has meant I've been unable to overpay my debts.

I have had to borrow £200 off of my wife this month which is now in my account to last until the end of the month when I'm next paid (I have a full tank of fuel in car also). I have an expensive weekend away in a couple of weeks (22-23rd) and then get paid on the Monday, I am hoping to not spend over the £200 though and will be very careful as I'm keen to get back on track and clearing the CC!

I hope you are all well, thanks for reading.

SouthernGuy

I've just skimmed through my diary and have realised I've only cleared £218.00 off the CC since August which is a hell of a lot loss than I was paying off per month previously.

To be fair I have had unexpected costs such as the funeral, mis judging costs for the joint account and then having to top up, and also my new car expenses but even so, I really need to get back on it!

Hopefully I won't have any unexpected costs now and I can get back on it next Month. I know there's Christmas (and my wife's Birthday) but that is planned for.

I'm disappointed in only clearing £218! Maybe I shouldn't have got the car!?! Oh well, done now, now to look to the future and get back on track...

I am now feeling determined again! I'm going to re look at my monthly outgoings tonight to see if I've slipped into wasting any money again so that I can stamp it out!